Thursday, September 20, 2007

Election Debate - Ontario - Who Won?

IMHO John Tory for the Conservatives!

Go Tory! An impressive exposure of the Liberals poor record over the last four years.

To my great regret, I voted Liberal in the last election, and am considering voting Conservative this time around.

Maybe we can get a Health Minister who is less obsessed about eliminating smoking from the face of the earth, and more obsessed with actually solving the major and very serious Health Care issues faced by the Province of Ontario, an Attorney General who actually cares about eliminating crime and corruption, some honest, serious leadership to solve the major issues affecting transit in the GTA and surrounding areas, and some honest, serious leadership to solve the border security issues.

The Liberals have been too busy handing out favors, positions, and money, like candy to their friends to actually provide any leadership on, or actually resolve any of these problems.


While I agree with a lot of the points Mr. Tory made, and he impresses me as a strong, well-spoken, intelligent and thoughtful leader, I have one concern.

The Conservative Party position on funding Faith-based private schools. Is this a sign that Mr. Tory is bending to the will of Special Interest Groups?

Hopefully not. I think a lot of us have had enough of that kind of crap from the Liberals both at the Federal and Provincial levels, and it's time someone took a stand against it.

The role of the Premier and each and every MLA is to represent the best interests of all of the people of Ontario.

It is not their job to represent Special Interest Groups.

Mr. Tory's explanation for his position on faith-based schools is that he would like to bring them into and under the requirements of the Public Education system.

That makes sense and I can understand his reasoning.


My problem is that our Public Education system is already stretched to the limit financially. I don't believe we have the money to support these special schools without seriously damaging the Public School system further.

As far as I'm concerned, people who choose to take their children out of the public education system, and into special schools of any kind, faith based or not, should do so at their own expense. All schools, private and public, should be required to follow the official Ontario School Curriculum, funded or not. So Mr. Tory should be able to accomplish the task of bringing these schools into the system without funding them with taxpayers dollars.

As a taxpayer, I can think of many, more important areas which require funding and which would benefit everyone, not just a select few.

I also think the Conservatives should rethink their position on the proposed Recall legislation, if for no other reason than to support their position that they plan to keep their promises to the electorate if they win the upcoming October election.


It would be nice if they just dropped the idea of funding faith based schools. It's a bad one.

If it wasn't for these two issues I'd go to the polls and vote Conservative with confidence.

As it stands, all I know for sure right now is that I don't want to vote Liberal or NDP!


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